Friday, August 13, 2004

Should justice begin at home?

Hot on the news that the Italian commissioner, Rocco Buttiglione, has been given the justice, freedom and security portfolio by presidente Senor Jose Manuel Durao Barroso (click here), the Italian news agency AGI reports that "there are 49,529 women and men in prison who are living in conditions that are against regulations in Italy".

This is the allegation of the Italian Radical party, which is claiming gross overcrowding in Italian jails. On 56,440 people kept in prison on June 30, 49,529 people – or 87.76 percent – were kept in prisons which are exceeding the regulation capacity set by the Minister of Justice, making conditions "technically illegal". Overcrowding sometimes exceeds 200 percent.

Furthermore, compared with the rest of the EU community, just Greece and Hungary are worse than Italy. But then, neither Greece nore Hungary have just taken on the justice, freedom and security portfolio.